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Protective measures such as avoiding close contact with non-household members and staying home are waning as the pandemic drags on, the study reported.
Researchers said the findings were worrisome, given the importance of the “Swiss cheese” model of pandemic defense in which multiple layers of protection block the spread of the new coronavirus.
Researchers said that protective behaviors remain important until a large percentage of the population is vaccinated.
“`There has been a lot of talk about ‘pandemic fatigue,’ and this study clearly shows that people are less willing to take precautions to limit the risk of infection and slow the spread of the virus,” said John Romley, lead researcher on the study and a senior fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.
Researchers said that protective behaviors remain important until a large percentage of the population is vaccinated. There has been a lot of talk about pandemic fatigue, and this study clearly shows that people are less willing to take precautions to limit the risk of infection and slow the spread of the virus, said John Romley, lead researcher on the study and a senior fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.
The study was published on Jan. 22 in Journal of the American Medical Association.
USC s research team used data from the Understanding America Study, an ongoing survey of 7,705 U.S. residents by the Center for Economic and Social Research at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
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People s willingness to maintain protective measures is key to preventing another surge in cases, but vigilance ebbs and flows. (Shutterstock / Kzenon)
LOS ANGELES, CA Just as Los Angeles County eases health restrictions, researchers at USC found that coronavirus fatigue is leading people to take greater risks with their own health as well as others around them.
Since the start of the pandemic, residents have dramatically let their guard down, a trend that ebbs and flows with headlines about the severity of the local outbreak. Mask-wearing has steadily increased since the coronavirus began spreading across Southern California in the spring, but the willingness to stay home, avoid gatherings and other protective measures is considerably down.
By City News Service
Jan 27, 2021
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - COVID-19 “fatigue is having a negative effect on some protective measures that people are taking to guard against the coronavirus although mask-wearing is up, according to a new USC survey.
Protective measures such as avoiding close contact with non-household members and staying home are waning as the pandemic drags on, the study reported.
The findings were called worrisome, given the importance of the “Swiss cheese model of pandemic defense in which multiple layers of protection block the spread of the new coronavirus.
“There has been a lot of talk about `pandemic fatigue, and this study clearly shows that people are less willing to take precautions to limit the risk of infection and slow the spread of the virus, said John Romley, lead researcher on the study and a senior fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.
Students participate in virtual fieldwork and education modules, as well as receive a monthly $1,000 stipend. (Vincent Leo | Daily Trojan)
After 20 years of civil rights advocacy work with detained migrants, police accountability and unhoused rights by political science professor Olu Orange and his USC Mock Trial program, Dornsife Associate Dean of Experiential Learning Tammy Anderson reached out to Orange to expand his work. Together, they worked to create an experiential learning program with a civil rights focus offered through the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Agents of Change, Dornsife’s new civil rights undergraduate clinic, looks to engage students in civil rights advocacy, community activism and governmental policy. Recently launched in Spring 2021, the two-year program allows students to attend specialized education modules and work alongside community partners including Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, ACLU SoCal, Al Otro Lado, Colors of Change and ov